Protestors
took to the streets again on Wednesday after 15-year-old
Berkin Elvan died after 269 days in a coma.

Elvan had been struck in the head by a tear gas canister in June
2013 during Turkey's
Gezi Park protests as he went to a bakery to buy bread.

Hundreds of thousands of protestors have been demonstrating in
Istanbul and the capital Ankara since Berkin's death.
Demonstrations have also been held in most other major cities in
the country.

Elvan's death
marks the eighth casualty from the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Those
protests, which originally began as an environmentalist campaign
against park development, quickly morphed into a country wide
phenomenon against the heavy handed police crackdown.

Small scale protests are relatively common in Turkey, but
demonstrations in support of Elvan have become the largest in the
country since 2013.

"Berkin's murderers are the AKP police," protesters shouted in
Istanbul on Wednesday.

Anti-government protesters
shout slogans during a demonstration in Istanbul March 12,
2014.Murad
Sezer

Vigils for Berkin Elvan are being held internationally
as the Twitter hashtag #berkinelvanölümsüzdür ("Berkin Elvan is
immortal") is trending.

A barricade, marked with
with the sign "Berkin Elvan's barricade" is seen during Elvan's
funeral ceremony in Istanbul March 12, 2014.REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Predictably, riot police in Turkey have so far reacted with tear
gas and water cannons in attempts to break up
demonstrations.

Riot police use water
cannon to disperse anti-government protesters near the Middle
East Technical University (ODTU) in Ankara March 11,
2014.REUTERS/Umit
Bektas

Turkish riot police gained notoriety during their excessive
use of tear gas during the Gezi Park protests; their heavy
handed responses have not changed.

Anti-government protesters
run as riot police fires tear gas during a demonstration in
Istanbul March 12, 2014.Osman Orsal /
Reuters

Beyond Berkin Elvan, many in Turkey are frustrated with the
current government as charges of intense
corruption continue to come to the public's attention.

Anti-government protesters
run as police fires tear gas to push back thousands of
demonstrators close to central Taksim square in Istanbul March
12, 2014.Murad Sezer /
Reuters

In response to corruption allegations, Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan reshuffled the police, dismissed investigators, and is
now
planning attempts to block access to Facebook and YouTube in
the country.

An anti-government waves a
flag as riot police fires tear gas to push back thousands of
demonstrators near Taksim square in Istanbul March 12,
2014.Murad Sezer /
Reuters

Municipal elections are scheduled on March 30, and the AKP
is polling
strongly with 37% of the electorate guaranteed to vote
for the party. Nevertheless, the tension is palpable.

Riot
policemen shield themselves as fireworks thrown by protesters
explode next to the statue of a bull, during an anti-government
protest in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul March 11,
2014.Stringer Turkey /
Reuters

And all that tear gas to put down protests over a boy dying from
being hit by a canister certainly isn't helping Erdogan.

Interestingly, Erdogan has vowed to step down if the AKP, in
power since 2002, loses the elections.

As one protester in Ankara told Business Insider, "Turkey's prime
minister still says that the police are heroes and refuses to
apologize [for Berkin's death]. It's because Tayyip Erdogan is
not a man and he is not a real leader."